PvP Job Series: Thief

Continuing onward, we look at the viability of the Thief job as the main role in PvP for competitive use.

PvP Performance Statcard

Based on the above ratings, Thief is not looking to be a good fit for most PvP compositions as a primary job. Most of their shortcomings will be due to their stats and limited gear variety. Let’s expand more on that below.

For more information on Thief, visit the job link: Thief.

Abilities

Thief’s Steal enables them to take chance at removing the selected gear from the target, which can cause disruptions against the opponent. To get the best results out of Steal, you are going to want to invest in Speed as their success rates scale further up with it. You must be within 1 range for most abilities and you should always aim to Steal from behind. We will take a further look at the abilities that will see the most PvP use:

Steal Heart (action) – Has a chance to charm the opposing gender or monster. This is very disruptive and one of their better abilities. You don’t gain control of them (acts like a guest), but the charmed unit will perform actions that further disrupt/damage your opponent until they take damage.

Steal Weapon (action) – Removing an opponent’s weapon most cases reduces their combat effectiveness, espcially jobs like Dark Knight or the “sword” jobs that require a sword at minimum to be equipped. Since stealing a weapon adds it to the inventory it also makes it an option to be thrown in PvP.

Steal Accessory (action) – Removing an opponent’s accessory can in most cases, lower their evasiveness, make them susceptible to status, or lower their stats depending on what they have. Always check in advance to see if it is worth stealing.

Move/Jump +2 (action) – These abilities are quintessential with traversing any map, especially Move +2, which is needed to get up close to the enemy to use Steal.

Stats

Stats as a primary job: HP: 90% | MP: 50% | Speed: 110% | PA: 100% | MA: 60%
C-EV: 25 | Move: 4 | Jump: 4

Can equip: Knives, Hats, Clothing

Thief’s best stats are their Speed, Evasion, Move, and Jump, each important to utilizing their skillset. They are a good candidate for the “Equip” support abilities since they have limited gear options. Gender will play a role to use Steal Heart effectively based on the metagame. Ninja’s Throw, Dragoon’s Jump, or Monk’s Martial Arts are all good secondary abilities since Throw and Jump synergize with Thief’s Speed and Martial Arts can utilize their PA.

Conclusion

Thief is in a rough spot for PvP use. Knight’s Arts of War tends to do a better job at removing gear which is primarily what thieving is all about with the exception of Steal Accessory. Ninjas tend to be a better Thief while utilizing Steal in most cases. Overall, you can see why Thief as a primary job isn’t the best for PvP.